


The Underpaid Wizard

by Linorien



Series: 007 Fest 2016 [6]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Set during Spectre, magical au, only Q has magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 15:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7469280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linorien/pseuds/Linorien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Q is willing to break some of his personal rules to go above and beyond his known skill set to make sure his agent completes his mission. Even if Bond doesn't know it is him helping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Underpaid Wizard

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: magic
> 
> Inspired by a bizarre conversation while watching Spectre in which we supposed Q was the mouse Bond threatens, and then it expanded from there. Enjoy.

[ ](http://imgur.com/kbd3MLb)

When Q saw that Bond was in Austria, he knew he would have to break some rules. It was bad enough that he was lying to his boss, but now he would be violating his personal rules. No magic at work. Although, maybe he could let it slide since he wouldn’t physically be at MI6.

He left early that day and packed his supplies. A couple stones with stored energy alongside his laptop and some winter clothes. Locking down his house, he transfigured himself and launched himself into the air.

Moneypenny had told Bond that he didn’t like flying, but that wasn’t quite as accurate as it could have been. He didn’t like being confined in a metal tube. He much preferred the feel of the wind through his feathers, the views below, and the lack of security. Plus, he left no trace as he coasted on the air currents over the sea.

Arriving in Austria, he checked himself into a hotel known to cater to wizards. The walls were enchanted to limit crossovers between spell work in adjacent rooms, which also served as a high quality deterrent against electronic forms of surveillance. A perfect place for a meeting between a double-oh agent and his quartermaster. Now he just had to get to Bond.  And that did require mundane forms of transport.

* * *

Q was outraged. The bloody agent had the gall to bring a stranger to his hotel room, demand that Q trust her, and then order him back to London. No way in Hell was Q going to do that. Well, he had to return to London soon, but not yet. Bond would not escape from his sight so easily.

Thankfully, Madeline was able to look up the hotel on his laptop so Q could provide his own transport to the next location. Pulling up a map of places he had travelled, he plotted a series of teleportations to familiar locations and found a friend’s place to crash for one night. He knew where they were staying. He would check in with them later. This magician needed a proper rest and reliable internet.

* * *

Of all the animals Q had become since he learned self-transfiguration, a mouse was a new one. He generally preferred being the hunter, not the hunted. And he was so low to the ground. Unnerving, really. But his fur was incredibly sensitive to the slightest shift in wind currents. That could be useful down in the labs to detect drafts.

He scampered around, trying not to be distracted by the scraps of food, in search of his agent. He wished he didn’t have to shift his entire body whenever he needed to look up.

Q heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being primed. “Who sent you?” Bond. He sat back on his hind legs to look up at the giant of an agent. “Who are you working for?” Seriously? One of his double-ohs was threatening a mouse? Granted he was probably the most dangerous mouse alive at the moment, but Bond wouldn’t know that. With a roll of his little mouse eyes, he ignored the man and followed the feel of wind over his fur. There seemed to be a fake wall. “Now where did he go?”

Oh yes, a secret room indeed. And wait for it, _crash_ , here comes the agent. He shifted into a fly to watch the spy. As soon as he determined where Bond was heading next, he flew to an empty room and teleported home to collapse on his bed. Checking his watch, he groaned. He needed to be at work in three hours.

* * *

 

Desert Bond. That is what his boss was telling them to do. Removing the smart blood from the main servers, that he agreed with. He should really be spending more time finding out how C was able to watch MI6 so easily. Some cameras, it made sense he would have access to, but there was no way Q would allow anyone to have access to all of his resources. After assigning Betel to looking for signs of C in the system, he informed R that he would be absent tomorrow. He spun some lie about a building permit inspection and they gave a very vague time estimate of when they would be stopping by. She winced in sympathy and wished him patience.

When Q finally arrived at Oberhausser’s base, he worried he was too late. It seemed deserted. No pun intended. Needing to remain as human as possible, he changed into his most familiar form. A sleek black cat. Actually, he looked around, a white cat would attract far less attention. With a shake of his fur, his colour shifted and he padded off.

He had to admit he was a bit envious of the surveillance room. If this was what C had in mind when he spoke about the Nine Eyes program, it needed to be stopped before it even got started. This was far too much for anyone in power to have at their disposal. He was about to leave when he heard the door open. “What is this place?” He scampered out of sight at the sound of Bond’s voice, accompanied by Madeline and another man who could only be Oberhausser. He listened to the man monologue, taunt Bond with the apparent downfall of the double-oh program, show him scenes of chaos around the world, and force his people to all stand in unison. What a waste. They can’t sift through information with their screens off. What a stupid plan.

Then he heard M’s voice. It was the speech he made yesterday morning to a small meeting of representatives from each branch. Did this man think it was live? Q felt a rush of pride for his own minions. They must have been slowly introducing a lag since they found out about the increased surveillance.

* * *

How long did it take Bond to wake up from a simple conk on the head? Maybe all the long years of head injuries were finally getting to the agent; he would have to insist the man stopped by medical after this mission. He paced nervously, wishing it was safe enough to shift back and free Bond, but there were too many eyes in this room. Finally the man woke. Hesitantly he opened his eyes. From his hiding spot, Q was begrudgingly impressed by how unfazed Bond appeared. Q would have been snarking his mouth off to hide his nerves way before this point. That’s why he preferred to work in the background.

He couldn’t help the hiss that came out of his mouth as he watched the drill stutter into Bond’s skull, the more sensitive cat ears, picking up the sound of the drill crushing his bone from across the room. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like the agent had a plan.

Q crept from his shadows to approach the chair from behind. Ha! Bond did still have the watch. He walked slowly around to the front of the chair while the other man spoke. Seeing as he hasn’t caught Bond’s attention, he lept onto his lap. Hopefully the agent might remember his quartermaster’s love of felines. He was staring the agent down, hoping at least his unchanged eyes would make the agent think of him and the watch he spend weeks slaving over. Only then, ugh, he felt a stranger’s hands pick him up. He quickly jumped out of the man’s hands and scampered away from the vile touch. Far away from Oberhausser, he saw Bond carefully remove his watch. It had worked then. Another drill bit lowered into place and Bond screamed in pain, trying to hold onto the watch. Not wanting to let his hard work go to waste, Q used a little bit of magic to help it stay in the agent’s grip.

Madeline ran over to Bond and Q wished he hadn’t heard the silly woman confess her love for the agent. She hardly knew him. Pathetic. But then Bond whispered to her that the timer was set for one minute and Q knew that was his cue to vacate the premises.

Wishing he had bothered to learn invisibility spells, Q ran as fast as his four legs could carry him. He heard one explosion, the watch, followed by the sound of gunshots, hopefully 007. Once outside, he jumped to the top of a jeep and launched himself into the air, transfiguring into a sparrow before he fell. He landed on his human feet at the edge of the crater. A spell to enhance his eyesight allowed him to make out the agent and the girl before his vision was obscured by the most beautiful explosion he had seen in years.

It was with a smile that he reached into his pocket for an energy stone and teleported back to London. Hopefully the rest of the mission would require no more magic, only good old hacking. It took far less energy.


End file.
